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Page 89
perhaps it was Ian's ability to control his charge that was in doubt in Beorn's mind.
"Alle heil," Ian reassured him and then switched to French, because he wanted Adam to understand what was said. "We will not go far today. I only mean to ask some questions. I want to discover, if I can, whether it is one band or more, how many men, and from what direction or directions they come."
In accordance with this purpose, the troop set off eastward along the coastline. At each fishing village Ian asked his questions. It was soon clear that the raiders did not come from the sea but were based inland. They turned north along the border of the demesne lands. Here and there a robbery was reported, but these were obviously single attacks by one or two individuals. Beorn mentioned that one thief, at least, had already been captured and hanged.
At the northern border, they turned west. Almost at once they found trouble. A farm had been stripped of its cattle, the bailiff badly beaten, his wife raped, two female serfs carried off. One young male serf, limping and with a bloody weal across his scalp, had seen the reavers. More men than his fingers and toes, he reported, and they had come from the west. Ian promised help and some recompense for their losses. He would return the next day, or the day after, he said, to arrange some kind of warning system and some suggestions for preliminary defense measures.
They continued west, passing some untouched farms. Two had not been troubled, but one of those bred pigs. Few robbers, no matter how daring, would try to drive a herd of pigs without the aid of the herdsman. And should they harm the herdsman, those vicious and highly intelligent animals would soon make pig food of both men and horses. A few pigs might die, but no man who stayed to fight them would live. Ian spoke to the bailiff and requested information from the herds-

 
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